In order to be truly happy in life, you need to have a positive self-image. What that means is having a positive opinion of yourself—your physical look, thoughts, emotions, attractions and capabilities. In life, you will often come across situations that will rock your world and make you question your worth, but if you have a positive self-image, you will not get crushed by pressures and rejections and keep pushing to reach your goals and dreams.

If your self-image, self-confidence and self-esteem feel a little shaky lately, here are a few easy ways to tune them up:

Start every day on the right foot

Don’t rely on the day to set your mood—set it yourself in the morning. One of the best ways to work on your optimism and a positive self-image is to start early in the day. When you wake up, play your favorite tunes, take a refreshing shower, grab a tasty and healthy breakfast with someone you love and listen to funny podcasts on your way to work. There’s no way you’ll feel bad after such a start of the day.

Leave past in the past

Letting go can be hard, especially if you’re really disappointed in someone or something, but keep in mind that people with a positive self-image don’t care about negative outcomes. Take your disappointments, learn from them and then let them live in the past.

Give yourself credit

Many of us have a tendency to attribute our accomplishments and achievements to fate or luck. Not people with strong self-esteem and self-image! If you worked hard for something, give yourself credit when credit is due.

Work on yourself

While it’s very important to love yourself with all your little flaws and imperfections, you also need to see yourself as an evolving piece of art that requires constant tweaking. Even though you’re probably busy every day, find time to improve your life—learn, read, do your hobbies, exercise, pamper yourself…You also might want to try to give up some bad habits you have to improve your life or at least replace them with more positive habits. For instance, if you’re a tobacco user, you can consider switching to a classy Vaporesso device and you’ll feel healthier, smell better and even save up some money you can use on your other passions.

Don’t compare yourself to others

This is one of the hardest, yet most useful skills you can master. If your self-image is based on other people, you won’t ever be truly content, since there’s always someone out there who’s better, better looking, bigger, stronger and richer than you. If you need to judge yourself, judge yourself according to what YOU have accomplished so far and strive to be better than YOUR past self. Focus on your life and find ways to improve your results. This is when you’ll notice real growth, improvement and positive mood changes.

Control your thoughts

Every one of us has an inner saboteur that often gets a little bit too loud. When whispers of criticism become screams, it can wreak havoc on your mental health. Your inner critic is a useful companion, but it doesn’t always tell the truth. When your negative thoughts start to be too loud, consciously steer your brain towards positivity. Soon this will become a habit and you will be (almost) free of intrusive thoughts.

Use affirmations

Affirmations train your brain to create a positive outlook. Everything you say and think about yourself is subconsciously stored in your mind and you will start to believe those things (and encourage others to believe them too). So make sure to only use positive and affirmative language, without bragging and lying, of course. Practice saying things like: Today is going to be great. Everything is going to turn out fine. I’m going to crush this presentation. Next time, you’ll do better. Tonight I’m going to get a lot of rest.

Give up perfection

Nothing and no one in the world is perfect. Mistakes will greet you wherever you turn and that’s normal and even beneficial for your growth. Accepting your mistakes requires humility, but also faith that you can improve—that’s where the devil resides!

If you practice these steps, exhibit positive thoughts and attitudes, you will soon notice your self-image, self-esteem and self-confidence expand until you become completely happy and at peace.